Judge to rule on £2.3m estate claim

Hetty Baynes, who was married to film director Ken Russell in the 1990s, is seeking financial provision as a "dependent" against the estate of the late Mary Spencer Watson.

She says Miss Spencer Watson treated her as her daughter throughout her life, and was supporting her financially at the time of her death in March 2006 aged 92.

Mr Justice Lewison, sitting in London, will announce his decision in her case and also on a £1.6 million claim being brought by Ms Baynes's mother, who is aged 90 and suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

During a recent hearing the judge heard that £2 million of the "substantial" estate was made up of Miss Spencer Watson's family home, Dunshay Manor in Purbeck, Dorset, with 15 acres of land and two cottages, which was left to the building preservation charity, the Landmark Trust.

The rest - just over £300,000 - was in investments, business assets and works of art.

Thomas Dumont, counsel for the 51-year-old actress, of Battersea, south- west London, told the judge: "In the months before her death, Mary was actively exploring methods of raising substantial capital to discharge Hetty's debts and buy her a house. That is the result that Hetty seeks in her claim."

He said she did not want to stand in the way of her mother's claim: "She seeks the satisfaction of her own claim from the lion's share of the estate given to the Landmark Trust."

The judge was told that Ms Baynes was now in "extremely straitened circumstances", with liabilities of £160,000.

She is seeking an order from the court which will discharge her debts, purchase a three-bedroom property in south London and a car, and will "provide a financial cushion to cover her until she has her life on an even keel" and can start to support herself and her 15-year-old son Rex from her marriage to Mr Russell.